HAVANA (CNN) -- News that the United States would loosen some
                  of its restrictions on Cuba received a warm welcome on the streets of
                  Havana but was greeted skeptically by Cuba's government.

                  In a country where most people have friends or relatives living in the United
                  States, the idea of more charter flights and quicker mail service was
                  embraced enthusiastically.

                  "We have a very hard time sending letters," said one man. "Sometimes it
                  takes two months and they don't arrive. Or we have to pay someone to mail
                  them, and even then they don't arrive."

                  In addition to establishing direct mail service between the United States and
                  Cuba, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced Tuesday the United States
                  would allow more Americans to send money to Cubans, expand direct
                  charter flights, allow the sale of food to nongovernmental organizations and
                  possibly open the way for baseball games between a professional U.S. club
                  and a Cuban team.

                  Clinton said the plan is meant only to show support for the Cuban people
                  and said there will be no softening of the 36-year-old embargo on the island.

                  Cuba's government takes cautious approach

                  Cuban government officials said they were studying the proposal. Foreign
                  Minister Roberto Robaina doubted the new measures would bring about
                  any major change in Cuban-U.S. relations.

                  "It is not the first time that announcements are made of initiatives
                  that don't really go to the root of the problem," Robaina said. "The root of
                  the problem is still a blockade that is unjust."

                  The Catholic charity organization Caritas claims the new measures help but
                  do not give Cuba what it needs most: trade.

                  "What we are really looking for is the possibility of economic development,
                  of a broader, larger exchange with the United States," said Caritas Cuba
                  Director Rolando Suarez. "But this is at least a gesture; it's a step that will
                  benefit the population."

                  The U.S. president's proposal would:

                   Permit any U.S. resident to send up to $1,200 annually to needy
                   Cubans. Under present rules, only Cuban Americans can send that
                   amount.

                   Allow the sale of food and agricultural supplies, including machinery,
                   to Cuba for the first time. The United States has previously banned all
                   commercial agricultural exports to the island.

                   Open direct mail service between the United States and Cuba. Mail
                   deliveries between the countries are possible but often take months.

                   Expand direct flights between the United States and Cuba. Such
                   flights were legal until 1996, when Cuban MiG jet fighters shot down
                   two unarmed Miami-based planes north of the island, killing the four
                   men aboard. Clinton retaliated by banning direct charter flights, but
                   reinstated them last March. Under the new proposal, restrictions
                   would be eased to allow flights from U.S. cities other than Miami.

                  The measures build on the Cuba Democracy Act of 1992, which tightened
                  the U.S. embargo but also called for increased exchanges between Cubans
                  and Americans. They also reflect an easing of some restrictions following
                  Pope John Paul II's visit to the island a year ago.

                  Officials insist the policy shifts help promote democracy without helping
                  Castro.

                  Baseball diplomacy?

                  The impact of Clinton's initiative is far from clear. Cuban cooperation will be
                  required in some areas, particularly the plan for increased exchanges.

                  One early test will come when a delegation from the Baltimore Orioles
                  baseball club travels to Havana, perhaps this week, to sound out Cuban
                  officials on the possibility of playing one or two exhibition baseball games
                  with a Cuban squad in March.

                  Profits would be earmarked for independent charities aimed at assisting
                  Cubans.

                  Embargo review panel rejected

                  In taking a people-to-people approach, Clinton rejected a proposal to
                  create a bipartisan commission to review Cuba policy. To pro-embargo
                  conservatives, the commission looked like a disguised bid to overturn the
                  embargo.

                  The decision disappointed Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia), an embargo
                  opponent who led the drive for the commission.

                  "It's a lost opportunity for America,"said Warner, who believes current
                  policy treats Cuba more cruelly than more bona fide threats to national
                  security, such as Iraq and North Korea.

                  Cuban Americans give criticism and praise

                  After officials disclosed the initiative on Monday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
                  (R-Florida) said the measures were part of an administration attempt to
                  mask its "true intention of normalizing relations with the Cuban dictator."

                  Ros-Lehtinen's Cuban-American colleague, Rep. Lincoln Diaz- Balart
                  (R-Florida) said he will oppose any food sales to Cuba on grounds they are
                  illegal.

                  The administration says any such sales would be limited to entities
                  independent of the government and therefore would be legal.

                  The Cuban American National Foundation, an exile group that has long
                  fought for a free island, also objects to the new policy, but other exiles view
                  it as a way to help Cubans on the island.

                  "Humanitarian aid -- people-to-people contact -- is always good," said
                  Guarione Diaz, president of Cuban Unity, a social service organization that
                  helps Cuban immigrants. "I would like to see people in Cuba be allowed to
                  visit the United States and other countries with the least possible
                  restrictions."

                  Antonio Jorge, an expert on Cuba, said the policy is an indirect way of
                  eroding the power of the Castro regime by giving nongovernment workers
                  on the island better access to the United States.

                  "This intensifies efforts to promote a civil society in Cuba that could
                  eventually be a valid opposition to the Castro regime," said Jorge, a
                  professor at Florida International University in Miami. "It's helping create an
                  internal opposition."

                   Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman, Correspondent Andrea Koppel
                       The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.